After 11 months of relentless struggle to secure justice for their teenage son, Chinedu Ukwu, who was brutally stabbed to death in the Arochukwu area of Abia State, his family has finally decided to lay the 18-year-old to rest.

The family informed TheNigerian Metro on Thursday that their slain teenage son would be laid to rest on Saturday (tomorrow).

Three suspected cult members, identified as Okorafor, John, and Chenemerem Nwosu, allegedly brutally stabbed 18-year-old Chinedu Ukwu to death on April 3, 2024, after he resisted their attempts to initiate him into their cult forcefully.

A TheNigerian Metro report dated May 3, 2024, detailed how vigilantes and hunters, acting swiftly on the night of the incident, successfully apprehended Nwosu and Okorafor just hours after the murder and handed them over to the police in the Arochukwu community.

The family was devastated when a police officer informed them that one of the two suspects, Okorafor, had escaped during a jailbreak on April 14, 2024.

Outraged, they condemned the Abia State Police Command for failing to conduct a thorough investigation into their son’s murder. Meanwhile, the command’s spokesperson, Maureen Chinaka, confirmed the escape and assured the public that efforts were underway to recapture the fugitive.

“About the information you requested, we are aware (of the escape), and efforts are ongoing to pick up the suspect. Efforts are ongoing to re-apprehend the suspect; we will not start something that we will not finish. With time, we will arrest the suspect,” she had said.

However, to this day, only one suspect remains on trial in court.

On Thursday, a family member known simply as Ezuma, shared details of the burial arrangements with our correspondent in a WhatsApp message, “This is just to update you on the case regarding the late Chinedu. The case was transferred from Umuahia to Arochukwu.

“His parents have been attending court sessions intending to get justice for the late boy, although only one person is in the correctional centre custody. The burial takes place this Saturday, March 22, 2025.”

Cultism-related violence remains widespread in Abia State, claiming numerous lives. Among its victims was Emmanuel Uche, a final-year student at Abia State University, who was shot dead by suspected cultists.

While the motive behind his killing remains unclear, the police command confirmed the arrest of one suspect, Emmanuel Victor, in connection with the alleged murder.

A university lecturer in Ekiti State, Israel Dada, has been left in shock and outrage after a notorious robber, identified as Ayomide, mysteriously escaped from police custody after allegedly stabbing his wife, Mary, multiple times inside their home at the Bode Thomas Housing Estate, Ogbomoso Road, Ofameta, Oyo State.

In an interview with our correspondent on Tuesday, the devastated husband made a heartfelt appeal to Nigerians, particularly the police hierarchy, to ensure justice was served by tracking down and re-arresting the escaped suspect so he could face the full weight of the law.

TheNigerian Metro gathered that the suspect, notorious for robbery and theft, was apprehended by community members shortly after he attacked the woman with a sharp knife on February 1, 2025, stabbing her multiple times and leaving her fighting for her life.

Although the suspect was handed over to the police after a successful manhunt by some residents, the distraught husband was shocked and dismayed when officers at the Atiba Police Division informed the family that the suspect had escaped custody.

Dada lamented, “She had several deep cuts and was bleeding profusely. The community caught him and took him to the police station. The police told us they took him to the hospital.

“But to our shock, on Monday morning, they claimed he had escaped from the hospital where he was receiving treatment when an officer was watching him. How does a violent robbery suspect just disappear from police custody? The police have not explained. I suspect they connived with his relatives to set him free.

“The suspect was not even taken to a government hospital. This is injustice. There is a conspiracy to keep this criminal away from prosecution, and I demand justice for my wife.”

Sharing her harrowing experience in a separate interview with our correspondent on Tuesday, Mary recalled, “I got back from Ibadan around 4:30 p.m. and opened our gate when our small dog suddenly began barking uncontrollably. I kept talking to it, unaware that the robber was inside the house, silently watching me the whole time.”

She told TheNigerian Metro that her instincts kicked in when the barking didn’t stop, forcing her to begin to check the compound, but before she could react, the suspect appeared with a knife.

“As I raised my head, this boy was already in front of me. He held a knife to my neck and said he would kill me if I made a sound. Before I could think, he started stabbing me. He stabbed my forehead and nose more than 10 times.

“I begged him to tell me what he wanted, but he kept stabbing me. He took my purse with just N4,000 and then, before running away, stabbed me in the eye! I stumbled out of the house, bleeding everywhere until a resident of the estate rushed me to the hospital. I have not been myself since then.”

Efforts to get an official response from the state Police Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, proved futile as he neither answered calls nor responded to text messages, but a senior officer at the Atiba Police Division confirmed to TheNigerian Metro that the suspect broke the handcuffs and escaped while receiving treatment.

“The suspect was badly beaten by the community and was unconscious. He was handcuffed at the hospital, but the officer guarding him left in the morning to change his clothes. Before he returned, the suspect had broken free from the handcuffs and vanished,” the officer disclosed.

The cop added, “We have gone to his father’s house, but the man said he had disowned him. His grandmother also refused to help. We are working tirelessly to re-arrest him and will not rest until he is caught.”

TheNigerian Metro reports this is not the first time a suspect has mysteriously vanished from police custody. In 2024, one of the alleged killers of Chinedu Ukwu, a teenager who was fatally stabbed on April 3 in Arochukwu, Abia State, also reportedly escaped from detention.

Despite the family’s relentless calls for justice, the suspect remains at large, with no concrete explanation from the state police division.

Tragedy struck in the early hours of Tuesday when a young man, Ibrahim Mohammed, was stabbed to death by suspected hoodlums in Funtua local government area of Katsina State.

According to eyewitnesses, the incident occurred at about 5:30am at Danja Road in Kasuwan Mata area of in Funtua town.

Mohammed, popularly known as Elana, had stepped out to pray at a nearby mosque when he was accosted by the hoodlums.

“They demanded he surrender his phone to them, threatening him with a knife, but he refused, and a scuffle ensued thereafter,” a source in the area revealed.

During the scuffle, Mohammed was fatally stabbed, leaving his family and community in shock.

He was buried at about 10am on Tuesday morning according to Islamic rites, with sympathisers trooping to his residence to condole with his family.

The tragic incident has raised concerns about the growing insecurity and violence in the State, with residents calling for increased police presence and action to curb the menace.

A man, Funsho Jimoh, who was allegedly stabbed to death by his 22-year-old wife, Iyanu Adedeji, over alleged infidelity in the Gbonogun area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, has been identified as a wanted suspect in the murder of one Mary Ogunyemi, allegedly killed by a suspected serial killer, Philip Ogunnaike, in the Asero area of the state.

TheNigerian Metro learnt exclusively from a police source on Sunday that the late Funsho (now identified as Danjuma) had been on the wanted list of the police for his involvement in cultism, murder, and other offences.

Our correspondent reported last Monday that an argument had ensued between Iyanu and Funsho after the latter allegedly accused Iyanu of extramarital affairs.

The disagreement was said to have degenerated into a scuffle and, during the ensuing dispute, Iyanu allegedly stabbed Funsho in the chest and took him to the hospital, where he was confirmed dead.

Recall that Ogunnaike, who was arrested in October 2024 for killing Mary, had disclosed during an interrogation session that Danjuma aided him in perpetrating the killing.

Ogunnaike was also fingered in the murder of two ladies, one of whom was Akinsanya, whose corpse was dumped on her father’s farmland in the Mile 6 area of Abeokuta.

He had claimed that Danjuma allegedly initiated him into cultism while urging the police to ensure his arrest.

Speaking in an interrogation video obtained by our correspondent on Sunday, Iyanu confessed that she was aware of her husband’s involvement in cultism.

She narrated that after hearing Danjuma was on the police wanted list, she relocated from their Rounder home to a new apartment in Obantoko, where the argument that led to Danjuma’s death took place.

She said, “We’ve always engaged in disputes, but when the disputes became too much and we lost our second child, I left his mum’s place, where we were living in Rounder, to rent an apartment. He added money to pay the rent.

“Sometime in April, he came to the house I rented, and we were living together. He often hid most times because he was a member of the Eiye cult group. I got to know about his involvement in cultism on the day of our second child’s christening after I observed how he was greeting his friends and the song they were playing.

“I heard on the radio that he was wanted for killing and fighting, and during that period, he left my place in June and returned in September. He also left and returned in December, and he had always beaten me whenever he came home.”

Iyanu added that she had suffered domestic abuse from Danjuma, and three days before his death, he visited her new apartment, beat her up, and barred her from going out.

She narrated further that Danjuma, however, permitted her to take their five-year-old daughter to school, and upon her return to the house, he accused her of infidelity.

“What caused our fight on that day was that he accused me of having gone to have sex when I took our daughter to school that morning and that I wanted to go and report him to the police so that they could arrest him, which I denied.

“As soon as I entered the house to pick up my clothes and flee, he locked the door, went to the kitchen, and took a knife. When I realised he was with a knife, I went to the room, where he came and kicked me, strangled my neck, and pointed the knife at me while threatening to kill me.

“I flung his hand, and the knife marked him on his chest. When I realised that he was bleeding, I told him, and he shouted that it is taboo for a knife to cut him. He began searching the house for something like an antidote, but he couldn’t find it.

“He told me that he had been instructed that a knife must not cut him because of a charm he did, whose antidote was with his mother. That was how he slipped, and I rushed out to seek help because I was exhausted from his beating,” Iyanu narrated.

Confirming Danjuma’s link to murder and cultism, the senior police officer disclosed that though he was wanted by the police, the wife was unjustified in killing him.

“Yes, the husband is Danjuma. He has been on the police wanted list because he is a cultist who has been involved in various crimes.

“Though he was a wanted person, the wife has no justification to have killed him. She will be arraigned soon,” the senior police officer said.

Meanwhile, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Omolola Odutola, when contacted by our correspondent on Saturday, disclosed that she was not aware of any link between the late Funsho and Ogunnaike.

“I don’t know,” Odutola said in a terse response.

An Osun State-based clergy, Bishop Shina Olaribigbe of Rapture Empowerment International, Osogbo, was in the early hours of Thursday stabbed to death while settling a fight between a couple.

Although details about the couple involved were not immediately available, security sources hinted to our correspondent that the woman fighting her husband was attending Olaribigbe’s church located around BCGA Area, where she served as an interpreter.

TheNigerian Metro also learnt that the couple had a history of incessant fights, which made them live apart, even though they were not officially divorced.

The cause of the latest fight was however not known, but the late Olaribigbe, it was learnt, always mediated in their fights.

It was also gathered that the husband had gone to his wife’s residence in the early hours of Thursday and met Olaribigbe in the room, which infuriated him.

A source who attends Olaribigbe’s church, and craved anonymity for security reasons, admitted to our correspondent that, “It was in that anger that the man took a knife and stabbed the clergy in the chest. He died immediately. Olaribigbe had gone to the house to see the woman, who had been sick for some time.

“The man and his wife were immediately arrested and taken to the Dugbe Police Division in Osogbo, where they are currently being detained.

“The remains of Olaribigbe had been deposited at the morgue of UNIOSUN Teaching Hospital, Osogbo.”

While speaking with our correspondent,  the Osun Police Command Public Relations Officer, Yemisi Opalola, confirmed the incident.

Opalola said, “They are a couple but not living together. They are not separated by law yet. The Pastor (Shina Olaribigbe) used to settle the fight between the couple.

“We were told the pastor was at the wife’s place today when the estranged husband got there. We were also told the husband stabbed the pastor. We were also told the deceased was on the wife’s bed when the incident happened.

“The husband stabbed him several times and he died. It was learnt the husband acted on the suspicion that the pastor was sleeping with the woman.”

Meanwhile, grief-stricken friends and acquaintances of the clergy flocked his Facebook page to mourn him.

One of them, Oyeleye Isaac, wrote on the page of the deceased, “BREAKING AND VERY SAD NEWS, WE LOST ONE OF OUR HEROES, Bishop Dr Olaribigbe Greatness. Why! Why! Why?”

Another Facebook user, Mr Bimbo, in a post, wrote, “You called to wish me Happy Birthday yesterday.”